Star Trek 06 Page 6

  "Aye aye, sir."

  Spock held up a hand and froze. "Captain," he said, very softly. "I hear something . . ." He swung his tricorder. "Humanoid . . . a few feet away . . . moving with remarkable agility . . . bearing eighteen."

  Kirk made a quick, surreptitious gesture to the two remaining security guards, who nodded and disappeared in opposite directions in the brush. Kirk moved cautiously forward along the bearing. But there was nobody there. Puzzled, he turned back.

  "What is it?" Chekov said.

  "A visitor," Spock said. "One wanting to retain his anonymity, I would say."

  Martha Landon, who had been sticking close to Chekov throughout, shivered.

  "What's the matter?"

  "Oh, nothing, I suppose," the girl said. "But . . . all this beauty . . . and now Mr. Hendorf dead, somebody watching us. It's frightening."

  "If you insist on worrying, worry about me," Chekov said. "I've been wanting to get you in a place like this for a long time."

  She beamed at him; obviously nothing could make her happier. Kirk said sharply: "Mr. Chekov, Yeoman Landon, I know you find each other fascinating, but we did not come here to carry out a field experiment in human biology. If you please—"

  "Of course, Captain," Chekov said, hurriedly breaking out his tricorder. "I was just about to take some readings."

  Kirk rejoined Spock and McCoy, shaking his head. "Nothing. Whoever it is, it moves like a cat."

  "Jim, I don't like this."

  "Neither do I, Bones, but we have an assignment to carry out. All hands. We've been watched, and we'll probably be watched. Move out—formation D—no stragglers."

  The start of the maneuver brought Spock to an outcropping of the rainbow-colored rock. He picked up a piece, studied it, and applied slight pressure. The lump broke into two unequal parts.

  "Most interesting. Extremely low specific gravity. Some uraninite, hornblende, quartz—but a number of other compounds I cannot immediately identify. An analysis should be interesting."

  He tucked the smaller portion into his specimen bag, and tossed the larger piece away. When it hit the ground, there was a small but violent explosion.

  Kirk, shaken, looked around, but no one had been hurt. "You wouldn't mind being a little more careful where you throw rocks, Mr. Spock?"

  Spock stared at the outcropping. "Fascinating. Obviously highly unstable. Captain, if indeed this material is as abundant elsewhere as it is here, this is a find of some importance. A considerable source of power."

  "Humph. A Garden of Eden—with land mines." His communicator buzzed. "Kirk here. What is it, Scotty?"

  "Our antimatter banks are completely inert. I couldn't stop it. But I found out why. There's a transmission of some sort, a beam, from the surface. It affects antimatter like a pail of water on a fire. We're trying to analyze it, but it pinpoints in the area of the village you're approaching, so maybe you could act more effectively from down there."

  "Well try. Kirk out . . . Mr. Spock, could this correlate with the vibrations you detected? A generator of some land?"

  "Possibly. If so, an immense one. And undoubtably subterranean—Jim!"

  With a shout, Spock leapt forward and knocked Kirk to the ground. When Kirk got back to his feet, more astonished than angry, Spock was staring at a dozen thorns neatly imbedded in his chest. Then the Vulcan slowly crumpled and fell.

  "Spock! McCoy, do something!"

  McCoy was already there. "Still alive." He dipped into his kit, came up with his air hypo, inserted a cartridge and gave Spock a shot, seemingly all in one smooth motion. Then, after a moment, he looked up at Kirk. "Not responding, Jim. We'll have to get him to the ship."

  "And not just him. We're overextended." Kirk took out his communicator. "Scotty? We're beaming back up, all of us. Notify the Transporter Room. And make arrangements to pick up Ensign Mallory; he's scouting ahead of us."

  "Aye aye, sir . . . Transporter Room, stand by to beam up landing party . . . Standing by, Captain."

  "Energize."

  The sparkle of the Transporter effect began around them. The surroundings started to fade out . . . and then wavered, reappeared, faded, reappeared and stabilized.

  "Mr. Scott! What's wrong?"

  "No Transporter contact, Captain. The entire system seems to be inhibited. The way it is now, we couldna beam up a fly."

  "Any connection with the warp drive malfunction?"

  "I dinna ken, skipper, but I'll check on it, and get back to you. Scott out."

  Kirk started to turn back to McCoy, then halted with astonishment as he saw Spock stirring. The Vulcan sat up weakly, looking distinctly off his normal complexion.

  "Spock!"

  "I am quite all right, Captain . . . A trifle dizzy . . ."

  "Bones?"

  "It must be hard to poison that green Vulcan blood. And then there was the shot. I guess he just took a while bouncing back."

  "Just what did you think you were doing?" Kirk demanded, helping Spock up.

  "I saw that you were unaware of that plant, so I—"

  "So you took the thorns yourself!"

  "I assure you I had no intention of doing so. My own clumsiness prevented me from moving out of the way."

  "I can jump out of the way as well as the next man. Next time you're not to get yourself killed. Do you know how much money Starfleet has invested in you?"

  "Certainly. In training, fifteen thousand, eight hundred a year; in pay up to last month—"

  "Never mind, Spock. But . . . thanks."

  "Jim," McCoy said, "the more I think about this place, the more I get an idea that . . . Well, it's kind of far out, but . . ."

  "Go on, Bones."

  "Well, when bacteria invade a human body, the white corpuscles hurry to the invasion point and try to destroy the invader. The mind isn't conscious of it. The body just does it."

  "You might be right, Bones. Not only is something after us, but I think it's also after the ship."

  Spock shook his head. "To affect the ship at this extreme range, Captain, would require something like a highly sophisticated planetary defense system. It would hardly seem possible—"

  He stopped as the group was suddenly enveloped in shadow. They turned as one and stared at the sky. Great towering masses of storm clouds were gathering there. It was impossible; thirty seconds ago the sky had been cloudless. An ominous rumble confirmed that the impossible was indeed happening.

  With a deafening clap of thunder, a jagged, blue-white stab of lightning flashed in their midst, tumbling them all like ninepins.

  Then the shadow lifted. Kirk got up cautiously. At the spot where the security guard named Kaplan had been standing, there was now only a spot of charred, smoking earth. Helpless, at a loss for words, furious, Kirk stared at it, and then back at the sky as Spock joined him.

  "A beautiful day, Mr. Spock," Kirk said bitterly. "Not a cloud in the sky. Just like Paradise."

  His communicator beeped. "Mallory here, Captain. I'm near the village. Coordinates one-eighteen by two-twenty. The village is—" Mallory's voice was interrupted by a blast of static.

  "What was that, Mallory? I don't read you."

  "I'm getting static too. I said it's primitive—strictly tribal from the looks of it. But there's something else—"

  Another tearing squeal of static. Mallory's voice stopped. Kirk could not get him back.

  "Captain," Spock said, "those coordinates were only a few thousand meters off that way."

  "Let's go! On the double!"

  They crashed off. As they broke out of the other side of the undergrowth, Kirk saw Mallory running toward them over a field littered with rainbow-colored rocks.

  "Over there, Captain," the security guard shouted. It's—"

  He had turned his head as he ran, to point. It was impossible to tell exactly what happened next. Perhaps he stubbed his toe. A rock exploded directly under him.

  By the time they reached him, no check by McCoy was needed. His body lay unmoving, blo
ody, broken.

  Kirk, shaken, closed his eyes for a moment. First Hendorf, then Kaplan. He had known Kaplan's family. And Mallory . . . Mallory's father had helped Kirk into the Academy . . .

  Spock took his arm, waving the others off.

  "Captain . . . in each case, it was unavoidable."

  "You're wrong, Spock. I should have beamed us all up the minute things started to go wrong."

  "You were under orders. You had no choice."

  "I could have saved two men at least. Beamed up. Made further investigations from the ship. Done something! This . . . blundering along down here . . . cut off from the ship . . . the ship's in trouble itself . . . unable to help it . . ."

  "We can help it, Captain. The source of the interference with the ship must be here on the planet. Indeed, this may be the only place the difficulty can be solved."

  "And how many more lives will I lose?"

  "No one has ever stated Starfleet duty was particularly safe. You have done everything a commander could do. I believe—" He broke off, listening. "Captain . . . I think our visitor is back again."

  Reluctantly, Kirk turned to Marple, the last of the security guards of the landing party. "Ensign, go ahead fifty yards, swing to your left, cut back, and make a lot of noise. Mr. Spock, Mr. Chekov, make a distraction, a loud one."

  He moved quietly away from them toward the brush. Behind him, Chekov's voice rose: "What kind of a tricorder setting do you call that?"

  "I will not have you speaking to me in that tone of voice, Ensign!"

  "Well, what do you want, violins? That's the stupidest setting I've ever seen—and you a Science Officer!"

  Kirk crept stealthily forward.

  "It's time you paid more attention to your own duties," Spock's voice shouted uncharacteristically. "Furthermore, you are down here to work, not to hold hands with a pretty yeoman!"

  There was somebody, or something, ahead now. Kirk parted the brush. Directly in front of him, his back turned, was a small humanoid, his skin copper red, his hair platinum blond. There seemed to be two tiny silver studs behind his ears. Kirk tensed himself to spring.

  At the same time, Marple came crashing toward them from the opposite side. The alien sprang up and ran directly into Kirk's arms. The alien struggled. Measuring him coolly, Kirk struck him squarely on the jaw, and he went down. Clutching his face, he began to cry like a child.

  Kirk stood over him, slowly relaxing. Obviously, this creature was no threat. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "Do you understand? I won't hurt you."

  He spoke, without much hope, in Interstellar. To his surprise, the alien responded in the same tongue, though much slurred and distorted.

  "You struck me with your hand."

  "I won't strike you again. Here." Kirk extended his hand to help the being up. After a moment, the hand was taken. "You've been following us, watching us. Why?"

  "I am the Eyes of Vaal. He must see."

  "Who is Vaal?"

  "Vaal is Vaal. He is everything."

  "You have a name?"

  "I am Akuta. I lead the Feeders of Vaal."

  The rest of the party began to gather around them. Akuta tried to flinch in all directions at once.

  "They won't hurt you either. I promise. Akuta, we have come here in peace. We would like to speak to your Vaal."

  "Akuta alone speaks to Vaal. I am the eyes and the voice of Vaal. It is his wish."

  "This is fascinating," Spock said. He stepped forward and put his hands gently to Akuta's head, turning it slightly for a closer look at the two small metal studs. "If you will permit me, sir . . . Captain, observe."

  "Antennae?" Kirk said.

  Akuta had suffered the examination without protest. "They are my ears for Vaal. They were given to me in the dim time, so the people could understand his commands, and obey."

  "The people," Kirk said. "Are they nearby?"

  "We are close to Vaal, so we may serve him. I shall take you there."

  Kirk's communicator shrilled. "Kirk here."

  It was Scott: "Captain, something's grabbed us from the planet's surface! Like a giant tractor beam! We can't break loose—we can't even hold our own."

  "Warp drive still out?"

  "Yes, Captain. All we have is impulse power, and that on maximum. Even with that, we'll only be able to maintain power for sixteen hours. Then we'll burn up for sure."

  "Mr. Scott, you are my Chief Engineer. You know everything about that ship there is to know . . . more than the men who designed it. If you can't get those warp engines going again—you're fired."

  "I'll try everything there is to try, sir. Scott out."

  Kirk turned to Akuta. "Tell me about Vaal."

  "All the world knows about Vaal. He makes the. rains fall, and the sun to shine. All good comes from Vaal."

  "Take us to him. We want to speak with him."

  "I will take you, but Vaal will not speak with you. He speaks only to me."

  "We'll take our chances."

  Nodding, Akuta led the way.

  Vaal became visible from a clearing some distance away. He was a great serpentlike head, seeming to have been cut out of a cliff. His mouth was open. In color it was greenish bronze, except for its red tongue, which extended from its open mouth. There were steps cut in the tongue, so that a man could walk right up and into the mouth. Two huge fangs extended down, white and polished. Vaal's eyes were open, and they glowed dimly red, pulsating regularly. Even from here, they could hear that the pulsation was timed with a faint but powerful-sounding low-pitched hum.

  They drew closer, both Spock and Chekov taking tricorder readings. "Of a high order of workmanship, and very ancient," the First Officer said.

  "But this isn't the center, Spock," Kirk said.

  "No, Captain. The center is deep beneath it. This would seem to be an access point. In addition there is an energy field extending some thirty feet beyond the head in all directions. Conventional in composition, but most formidable."

  "Akuta, how do you talk to Vaal?"

  "Vaal calls me. Only then."

  Kirk turned to the rest of the party, scowling. "Well, we can't get to it, and we can't talk to it until it's ready to talk."

  "Vaal sleeps now," Akuta said. "When he is hungry, you may be able to talk with him—if he desires it."

  "When does he get hungry?"

  "Soon. Come. We will give you food and drink. If you are tired, you may rest."

  He led them down the hill and back into the jungle. It was not very long before they emerged in a tiny village, which looked part Polynesian, part American Indian, part exotic in its own way. There were small thatched huts with hanging batik tapestries, simply made and mostly repeating the totem image of Vaal. At one end of the village area were neatly stacked piles of the explosive rainbow-colored rock. About a dozen aliens were there, men and women, all very handsome, all younger than Akuta. They seemed to be doing nothing at all.

  "Akuta," Kirk said, "where are the others?"

  "There are no others."

  "But . . . where are the children?"

  "Children? You speak unknown words to me."

  "Little people," Kirk explained. "Like yourselves. But they grow."

  "Ah," said Akuta. "Replacements. None are necessary. They are forbidden by Vaal."

  "But," said Martha Landon, "when people fall in love—" Chekov was standing next to her, and at these words he smiled and slipped his hand around her waist. She pressed it to her.

  "Strange words," said Akuta. "Children . . . love. What is love?"

  "Well . . . when a man and a woman are . . . attracted . . ." She did not seem to be able to go any farther. Akuta stared at her and at Chekov's arm.

  "Ah. The holding. The touching. Vaal has forbidden this."

  "There goes Paradise," said Chekov.

  During the questioning, the People of Vaal had been drawing closer and closer, not menacingly, but in simple curiosity. Akuta turned to them.

  "These are strangers
from another place. They have come among us. Welcome them."

  A young man stepped forward, beaming. "Welcome to Vaal."

  A girl, beautiful as a goddess, though wearing slightly less, stepped out with a lei of flowers in her hands, smiling warmly. She went to Kirk and put the lei over his head. "Our homes are open to you."

  Thus encouraged, the others came over, giggling, touching, exploring, examining the clothing and the gadgets of the strangers. Another young woman put a necklace of shells around Spock's neck.

  "It does something for you, Mr. Spock," Kirk said.

  "Indeed, Captain. It makes me most uncomfortable."

  "I am Sayana," the girl said. "You have a name?"

  "I am Spock."

  Sayana repeated the name, pointing to him, and so did the rest of the natives, with a wave of laughter.

  "I fail to see," Spock said, "what they find so amusing."

  "Come," said Akuta. He led the landing party off to one of the huts. The rest of the People of Vaal continued to crowd around, laughing and probing gently.

  The interior of the hut was simple, indeed primitive. There were a few baskets, a few wooden vessels, some hangings with the totem image on them, sleeping mats on the floor.

  "This house is your house," Akuta said. "I will send food and drink. You are welcome in the place of Vaal."

  He went out. Chekov stared after him. "Now we're welcome. A while ago this whole planet was trying to kill us. It doesn't make sense."

  "Nothing does down here," McCoy agreed. "I'm going to run a physiological reading on some of those villagers."

  He went out after Akuta. Kirk took out his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. Come in."

  "Scott here, sir."

  "Status report, Scotty."

  "No change, Captain. The orbit is decaying along the computed lines. No success with the warp drive. We're going down and we can't stop it."

  "I'm sick of hearing that word 'can't,' Scott," Kirk said harshly. "Get my ship out of there."

  "But, sir—we've tried everything within engineering reason—"

  "Then use your imagination! Tie every dyne of power the ship has into the impulse engines. Discard the warp drive nacelles if you have to and crack out of there with just the main section—but get out!"